About
Great Notion Brewing is a project started by three friends; Andy Miller, James Dugan, and Paul Reiter. All three guys met each other out of coincidence, they live on the same street in North Portland. Andy and James met each other while home brewing in 2010, and began developing recipes and building a friendship. Together they have 25 years of brewing experience with medals in the National Homebrew Competition for fruit lambic and Double IPA. Paul Reiter has a degree in business and finance with a focus on start-ups and creative enterprise . In April of 2014, the boys finally got together and shared some home brew. On this night they enjoyed a Stout with hand smoked Vienna malt, a 3 year old Peach Sour, and a 10% double IPA. It’s fair to say, on this night, Great Notion Brewing was born.
6.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 7
Overall 6
Dink pour during the trip to Festival of Dark Arts 2026 with Josh.
Aroma: very earthy, bananas, kinda artificial.
Taste: along the same lines, roasty, on the thinner side.
Overall: not impressed.
Aroma: very earthy, bananas, kinda artificial.
Taste: along the same lines, roasty, on the thinner side.
Overall: not impressed.
Tried
from Draft
at
Great Notion Brewing - Alberta
on 13 Feb 2026
at 03:10
8.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 10
Flavor 8.5
Texture 7
Overall 8
Shared with Josh during our trip to Festival of Dark Arts 2026.
Aroma: loads of blueberries and blackberries with pastry notes 🥳
Taste: along the same lines.
Overall: awesome!
Aroma: loads of blueberries and blackberries with pastry notes 🥳
Taste: along the same lines.
Overall: awesome!
Tried
from Draft
at
Great Notion Brewing - Alberta
on 13 Feb 2026
at 03:04
8.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8.5
Texture 8
Overall 8
Shared with Josh during our trip to Festival of Dark Arts 2026.
Aroma: hoppy at first with tons of tropical fruits coming, very juicy.
Taste: along the same lines, extremely juicy and fruity.
Overall: amazing!
Aroma: hoppy at first with tons of tropical fruits coming, very juicy.
Taste: along the same lines, extremely juicy and fruity.
Overall: amazing!
Tried
from Draft
at
Great Notion Brewing - Alberta
on 13 Feb 2026
at 03:00
8.4/10
—
Appearance 9
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 8.5
Texture 9
Overall 8.5
16 oz can from Stogies and Stories. Aroma has notes of cantaloupe, pine, bready malt, yeast. Pours murky dark yellow with a half finger off-white head with good retention. Taste has a mild to moderate pithy bitterness with flavors of overripe tropical fruit, melon, and pine. Prickly, bordering on creamy, mouthfeel. Classically constructed NEIPA. Very good.
Tried
from Can
on 07 Feb 2026
at 02:42
7.8/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 7
Overall 8
16oz can at Hops & Bottles. Hazy yellow pour, filmy head, rings of lacing. Fruity aroma encompasses tropical, citrus and stone fruit. Taste starts off with some tropical flavors, then a citrusy edge, fleshy stone fruit pulp after. Not too thick, but creamy, citrus zest lingering .
Tried
from Can
from
Hops & Bottles
on 05 Feb 2026
at 01:55
7.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Can. Black beer with a low tan head. Nutty and banana aroma with roast. Roast and chocolate flavor with banana. Medium bodied. Chocolate and banana linger with roast and nuttiness.
Tried
on 02 Feb 2026
at 22:29
7.1/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 7.5
Dark brown. Smells like peanut butter powder. Same on the palate. Thick, rich, chocolate syrup and fake peanut butter. This is...I mean there are gradations to Great Notion stouts and this is certainly at the low end of what they are capable of.
Tried
from Can
on 31 Jan 2026
at 07:55
5.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 5
Overall 5.5
16 oz. can, pours black with almost no head. Nose is full of fake peanut butter powder, followed by cocoa, and lactose. Flavour is extremely artificial, with fake peanut butter cup, cocoa, more fake peanut butter, lactose. Ugh—super fake and artificial. Not egregious but far from a refined beer. Not good.
Tried
from Can
on 31 Jan 2026
at 07:53
5.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
473mL can. Pours black with a small beige head. Tons of artificial peanut butter powder on the nose. Flavour has a lot of fake peanut butter. Some milk sugar, I guess. Wow, this is egregious.
Tried
from Can
on 31 Jan 2026
at 03:57
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7.5
Texture 7
Overall 7.5
16 ounce can from Tavour. Pale gold pour. Frothy white head is substantial. Aroma is pale malt with a hint of smoke. Flavor is light biscuity malt and spicy hops. Mild smoky notes, as well. Light and refreshing.
Tried
from Can
from Tavour
on 23 Jan 2026
at 04:40